Lucky
by MarenMary93
Summary: Duncan, Cooper, Charlie and Boxer run upon some bad luck on their way back from an assignment. Yet Duncan considers himself lucky. (I played with, and slightly wrecked Gib's guys again. -Thanks for letting me play with them by the way.)
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so… For once I actually managed to write something from start to finish without posting it while I wrote. *Pats self on shoulder* (FYI: That's a first. –I've managed a couple of chapters before but never a full story…)**

 **It's just around 14k words in total, spread over 7 chapters.**

 **Warnings:  
language, a couple of oh shit moments, some bodily harm does befall someone in a slightly graphic manner, and friendly bullying...?  
(In other words, expect what you usually find in my stories.)**

"Spider two-three, this is Viper two-five. How copy?" Boxer said before releasing the button on his radio to wait for response. He cast a glance over at the person in the driver's seat, and Charlie looked back at him.

"Viper two-five, good copy. Go ahead."

"Spider two-three, we've got what looks like a checkpoint coming up ahead, it isn't marked off on our maps. Do you have information of any new friendly activity in the area? Map reference, numbers following, six-three-niner, eight-niner-one. Read back. Over."

"Viper two-five, I read back. Requesting information about possible unannounced checkpoint up ahead at map reference six-three-niner, eight-niner-one. Over."

"Spider two-three, that's right. Will you check? Over."

"Viper two-five, we will check. Wait out."

Boxer nodded to himself while the radio went silent.

"You know, could be some poor grunts with the order to search vehicles on their way to Bagdad." Charlie shrugged, he was driving fast along the gravel road with just one hand on the steering wheel.

"Well, anyway… Until we know if we should have our guns ready, why don't you take that lead foot off the gas pedal big bro…" Cooper prompted from the back and slammed his left hand down on the top of Charlie's seat.

"What? Suddenly you're afraid of a little contact?"

"No." Cooper sat back and folded his arms, "I just want to know if I should be prepared-prepared or just prepared. Besides, if Mamma saw you driving like this, she'd throw a fit!"

"Thought you said this kid brother of yours weren't a scaredy-cat." Box teased in a low rumble, earning himself a swat at the back of his head.

"I ain't afraid, I just…" Coop shrugged, "I don't wanna get ambushed."

"Yeah, we got ambushed on one of our tours before you guys picked us for your team…" Duncan reminisced, "Not fun."

"What?!" Charlie slammed the break and turned around in his seat to look at Cooper, "You never told me that! Why the hell didn't I know that?"

Offering up what was supposed to be an innocent shrug and a nervous laugh, Coop looked anywhere but at Charlie.

"Coop."

"Okay, yeah well…" Cooper wasn't quite ready to explain what had happened just yet, or why he hadn't told Charlie about it.

"Spit it, kid…" Charlie's blue-green eyes went impossibly cold as he pinned his younger brother with his stare.

"Everything turned out alright…" Cooper tried, "Wasn't anything to tell."

"Look, I get why you don't tell Mamma about this, but I need to know that kinda stuff." Charlie growled, "What happened, where and why?"

"We got ambushed out on patrol. Me, Dunc, our team leader, and two other guys." Cooper swallowed, "One car upturned on the side of the road, we stopped to check, a couple of cars came out from nowhere."

"They shot out our tires. Tagged Mark in the shoulder." Dunc filled in, "We about ran through all of the ammo we had before CAS came to the rescue."

Coop nodded.

"Where?"

"About 50 clicks north-north-west of Karbala." Coop answered with a smile that was practiced muscles doing what they were told to do, rather than a display of anything positive.

"Did the two of you get hurt?"

While Coop answered 'no', Duncan told the truth.

"He sprained his left elbow and needed a collection of stitches. I needed minor stitchwork." Dunc shrank a little at the warning look Coop shot him, "What, it's the truth! Besides, if he ever sees you without at least a long pair of surfer-shorts, he's gonna have questions."

"Okay. How bad was it for that kid?" Charlie asked Duncan, pointing at Cooper.

"He-"

"It was just a couple of graces… Outer thigh…"

"A couple of pretty deep graces…" Duncan corrected, dodging Coop's paw coming after his head.

"Hey, I could walk just fine. Just graces."

"You were limping, and the doctor suggested that you should have used crutches for a couple of weeks."

"Suggested. Didn't straight out tell me to do so."

"I see he's related to you…" Boxer drawled and lolled his head over to look at Charlie.

"Shut it." Charlie shoved Boxer's shoulder to make his point, before he pinned Coop with his eyes again, "When we get back to the FOB, you're showing me those scars." He paused slightly as he looked down at Coop's legs before hesitantly adding, "You said outer thigh, right?"

Coop sighed, then dragged his answer, "Well, yeah… Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"Backside-slash-outer-thigh is more accurate I think…" Duncan chuckled, before Coop slapped the back of his head, "HEY!"

"Idiot." Coop whispered under his breath as he scowled back at Dunc who couldn't keep from laughing.

"Oh…" Charlie caught on to what Dunc was saying and started laughing just a little too. "I see why you're not too hot for an ambush anymore…"

"Shut it…" Cooper rolled his eyes, "It's not funny."

"It is. Kinda." Charlie chuckled as he turned back around to start driving again, just as the radio sparked to life.

"Viper two-five, this is Spider two-three, how copy?"

"Spider two-three, copy 5 out of 5. Go."

"Viper two-five, it looks like we have a last minute checkpoint set up at the map reference you gave. You're going to get stopped, but it's our guys so you should be alright. Over."

"Spider two-three, thank you. We'll proceed. Out." Boxer smiled as he ended the radio call.

"See…" Charlie grinned a wide smile, as he forced the vehicle back into gear, "Nothing to worry about."

"Hey, better safe than sorry…" Boxer shrugged, "When am I gonna be able to pound that into your thick head."

"Hey, first you've gotta pound it into the other Texan's thick skull…"

"You two are impossible." Box rolled his eyes and shook his head, then he turned to the back to address Dunc and Coop, "At least I only have to deal with this one today, since Wyatt and Pete was forced to finish up some paperwork."

"You're not much better…" Charlie replied in a casual tone and jabbed Box with his elbow. "And besides, Pete ain't like that…"

"I'll agree about Pete, but I won't agree on that other stuff. I'm much better." Box scowled back at the slightly shorter edition of tall Californian, "I'm usually the voice of reason when the two of you get bored."

"You're the voice of boredom, that's what you are…" Charlie teased.

"Hey Coop…" Boxer looked straight at Coop, "How have you survived with him as a big brother? It must've been hell, right?"

Cooper hitched up his shoulders a little, "I'm not really sure, but I think Delta-Daycare helped a lot. Y'know, I didn't have him 'round all the damn time…"

"Kid, if you plan on being funny, try doing it without butchering Texan while you try. Okay?" Boxer chuckled, "Delta-Daycare…"

"Nah man…" Charlie shook his head, "I think him butchering that annoying drawl of yours is the funny part. If you start counting of the languages that kid can speak well enough to fool you into believing it's his only mother tongue, I'm pretty sure he's only mocking you with the accent…"

"Are you?"

"No…" Cooper shook his head, but the corners of his mouth curved slightly upward.

"How many languages is it?"

"Like… 3…" Coop shrugged, "Not that many…"

"You're taking the Scandinavian ones as one again?" Charlie growled, "Dude, they're alike… But definitely not the same! You've gotta spend more time with Grandma Tordis next time we get the chance to go to Norway!"

"Five then…" Coop corrected, "Still not that many, three of them is very alike. And two of them I've grown up with."

"Think I can about five languages that well too…" Box shrugged.

"No…" Charlie shook his head, "Not if you take Kurdish, Italian and Arab into that count. No one will think you're native by the way you speak those three… Spanish… Yeah, you could prolly fool someone to think you grew up with it."

"Uh… Charlie…"

"Yeah…"

"You better step on that pedal again brother, because there's this truck coming up behind us…"

"Truck?" Charlie furrowed his brows and looked in the side mirror, seeing the truck Coop had mentioned. "Damn, that thing's got some speed on it…"

"Uhuh…" Cooper agreed.

"Must be going 60, easy." Dunc admired.

"It's going more. We're going 60 and it's closing in." Charlie frowned as he peeked in the mirror again.

"Yeah, that one is going like a bat out of hell, that's for sure." Boxer frowned, twisting around to look in the side mirror on his side. "What do you think Norway? Give them a few warning shots?"

"Well, they're obviously not driving like this just for fun… Not here, not after they've seen this car, or the checkpoint up front… We're pushing 65 now, Coop are they still?"

"Closing in? Yep!" Coop answered, "Didn't think those kinds of trucks could go this fast…"

"Oh, some will reach 105 without any tampering." Boxer shrugged.

"Why do you know that?" Dunc almost whined with frustration in the backseat.

"Yeah! Why?" Charlie wanted the answer as well.

"Oh, Wyatt's old pick-up can originally flat-out go about 85, maybe a bit more on a good day. And that thing is from the stone age." Box shrugged, "A guy we were in the same class as had one just like it, but got his older brother, who is a total grease-monkey to put something bigger under the hood. He managed to force it up to 120. Trust me, you do not want to be in a pickup going 120. He eventually crashed it, but at a much slower speed. Walked away from it unscathed, a couple of years ago he bought a brand new truck, it goes 105 without tampering."

"Okay, thank you." Charlie frowned, "I doubt this 'vee will go that fast with all this weight in it…"

"This Humvee can't go that fast anyway. Top speed is somewhere just on the other side of 70, when it's not carrying extra weight." Coop shot back as he twisted around to get his M-4 which he had stocked away behind him. Then as he had the weapon on his lap and checked it he looked up at Boxer, "Box, permission to scare them onto better thoughts?"e

"We don't want-" Boxer didn't get any further before he was interrupted by multiple cracks from multiple weapons.

"HELL! They're shooting at us!" Charlie cussed and swerved a little, "Lil bro, I think that was the permission you needed."

"Yeah." Box agreed loudly, before he tapped Charlie on the shoulder, "Imma crawl in the back and hand these two ammo when they run outta it."

"Good thinking." Charlie nodded as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel, "I'm going to try to keep this turtle on the road."

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

While it wasn't exactly a good idea, actually it was a very bad idea, rolling down the rear windows and sitting in them seemed like the best option for potentially hitting their targets. And besides, he was only following Cooper's lead.

The oversized Californian he had been tight with ever since they were 18 and in basic had rolled down his window, hooked his legs on the seats and belts in some weird way and was hanging out of the window, firing back at the ones shooting at them.

"DUNC! IN!" Cooper suddenly yelled as he slid back inside, Dunc didn't wait for an explanation as he did the same.

 **Okay, I'll leave you hanging here until tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed it so far.**

*Evil grin*


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay here's the 2nd chapter for you guys. Hope you'll enjoy it.**

The Humvee bounced off it's front tires, then when they came back down the vehicle made a sharp turn and started rolling sideways. Duncan felt himself slam into a lot of things, some hard, some softer, until he got propelled out of one of the open rear windows on what must've been the vehicle's fourth or fifth sideways somersault.

His body wouldn't quite agree with his instincts and intentions of curling up in a ball, and he ended up being tossed through the air like a ragdoll trying to get into the stabile-X form of a skydiver.

The ground came into view again, and he instinctively realized that it would probably be his last chance of landing somewhat okay on his legs. There could be a small chance of impacting with his feet first, then tuck and roll and walk away from being tossed out of the rolling 'vee almost unharmed.

He did his best to time it, and somehow managed just that. To land with his feet first. Then just as his feet touched the ground and he was starting to tuck, something slammed brutally into his left leg. Clipping him down and throwing his tuck-and-roll game way off balance.

The tuck wasn't as much the expertly practiced tuck he had trained on since he was a kid, it was just him tucking his left leg close as he tried to not cry out with the pain that exploded from it.

The roll on the other hand went almost good as it could have gone. It wasn't in the same direction as he would have tried to roll, but he rolled and didn't slam to a stop.

He opened his eyes with a couple of half-choked grunts as he came to a full stop pretty far away from the Humvee. He saw his weapon laying a few yards closer to the road, and knew he had to get to it before the guys in the pickup truck realized he was alive. He had to get over to his gun no matter how much his leg hurt.

A quick glance down told him that he wasn't bleeding much, and that he wouldn't bleed to death if he didn't get around to tying tourniquets or anything. So it was okay for him to crawl towards his gun. What he forgot to take into consideration though, was that as soon as he moved the pain from his ankle and leg quadrupled.

He gasped, unable to move an inch before the first head-spinning wave of pain and nausea subsided.

"Oh shit…" he muttered under his breath, "That hurts."

Prepared for the pain the second time around, his attempt went a lot better. He managed to crawl over to his gun, his left leg trailing him uselessly like a leash.

Just as he picked up his M-4, he heard someone behind him groan silently. A quick glance over his shoulder told him it was Cooper.

"Psst! Coop!" he whispered intensely, trying to get the blond's attention without catching the attention of the guys on the truck too. "Coop!"

He looked over his shoulder again and saw Coop gently touching a few fingers to his head before flinching.

"Psst!" he tried again, "Ground control to major Tom…"

"Wha…?"

"Coop! Get your concussed ass over here and bring that rifle."

He waited until Coop started performing what he had ordered him to before he turned all of his attention back front again. He checked how many bullets he had left, he believed he had gotten off two or three shots since he changed mag.

He had gotten off a few more shots obviously, he had 17 left. That would just have to do.

Noticing that Cooper crawled up next to him, he looked over. "You good? Any injuries?"

"Got my bell rung a little, but it's already starting to pass. Might have a sore shoulder for a little while, and some serious road rash all over, but I'm good. You?"

Duncan bared his teeth, "Pretty damn sure my left leg is broken. But I'll live, as long as those dudes don't get to us first." He said with a nod in the direction of the truck.

Coop winced, "Sorry, think it was my shoulder that hit your leg."

"Apology accepted, now… Let's try to get all of us out of this mess." Duncan answered without offering it much thought.

"Yeah." Coop nodded, "They haven't stepped around the 'vee yet… What do you think? That they didn't see us come flying out of it?"

"Well, if they did, they're probably thinking we're dead right now."

"That could be true." Cooper agreed, then his eyebrows pinched closer together in thought, "You remember how many there were? On the truck?"

"Six or seven maybe? Driver included." Duncan shrugged as he tried to bring the picture up in memory. "Why?"

Quickly checking his magazine, Cooper flashed a quick grin and patted Dunc on the back of his shoulder, "Wait here."

He wanted to protest as the tall blond got to his feet and crept over towards the Humvee, but any audible protest would be picked up by the wrong guys too, and he couldn't exactly get up and drag Coop down either. Not with his leg.

Instead he did a Pete-worthy gesture with his right hand as he cussed his friend out inside his head.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

His heart was pounding as he reached he side of the Humvee. Part of him wanted to throw himself to his knees and check out how Box and Charlie were doing, the other part of him, the trained operative part of him knew he had to take care of business first.

With his rifle at ready, he crept towards the back end of the Humvee. It would give him the best advantage as a left-hander to come out from that side, and he figured that the guys from the truck wouldn't all be standing in one direction anyway, so rear or front end of the truck wouldn't make much of a difference in that way.

He took out three before the others had time to turn towards him. Seven, there was seven in total. The next two went down without a hitch, the sixth kicked his rifle away from him just as he pulled off the shot that was meant to kill him. It rendered the sixth man incapable of much more than wailing in pain, which was well enough for now Coop guessed. But now he had to take care of the seventh one, and his rifle was on the ground ten feet away because of the broken strap the flying lesson had caused.

He felt his heart clamp up in his chest. His mouth went completely dry within a split second. The seventh guy was holding an AK up aimed at him, and the distance was too far for him to cross before the guy would be able to pull off the shot.

The man started shouting orders in Arabic. Coop raised his hands as he was told. His heart switching from the shocked stand-still from moments earlier to full on gallop. He tried slowing his breaths, but his chest still expanded and contracted rapidly.

He felt a bead of sweat roll from his hairline and down the side of his forehead, then further down his cheek before it seemed to change direction at the last minute to end up at the bottom of his chin.

The man shouted another order. –on your knees-. Coop complied.

He really didn't want his life to end by being shot execution-style, but it looked like the world was headed that way. He blinked hard, wondering if the stinging in his eyes were unshed tears or sweat and dirt that had gotten into them.

He forced his eyes open, set his forest-green eyes on the man holding the gun aimed at his chest. Did his best to force eye-contact. He held no hope that it would save him, but he sure as hell wanted the person about to shoot him to look him in the eyes while doing it if anything.

Seconds seemed to pass like molasses in wintertime. SLOW. He wasn't sure if their little staring contest had lasted five seconds or five hours. It felt like hours.

His heart had settled somewhere down by his knees, right at ground level. This had not been the best thought-through plan, he'd admit that.

 _'Just shoot already…'_ He had no wish to die, but the waiting was unnerving.

The report of a gun so close it made the air vibrate sounded, and Coop squeezed his eyes shut. He waited for the pain to start blossoming near his chest. That was where the guy had been aiming, right? Waited and waited.

Then he remembered that he hadn't felt an impact either. He would have felt that, wouldn't he?

He opened his eyes marginally, enough to see that the man who had been holding the rifle at him laid in a heap in front of him. The sixth guy was still crying and wailing, coughing up blood that was slowly running into his airways.

Coop's eyes followed the ground up to the front of the Humvee, where the passenger side front window was rolled down and his older brother smirked back at him as he tried to hide his discomfort.

"Sorry it took me so long…" he hitched up his left shoulder a little, "These crammy Humvee's are hell to crawl through upside down with a done-for wrist."

First then Coop realized that his brother was holding his pistol with his left, and that he had his weight on his elbow with his hand merely resting on the sand.

"Are you good?"

"Me? Yeah." Charlie nodded, "Think I'll be a lefty like you for a little while, but I'm alright."

"And Box?"

"I'M FINE! JUST STUCK!" a certain Texan's voice rumbled from the vehicle and Coop bent down to check how Box was situated.

"Yeah… How'd that happen anyway…" Coop winced as he saw Boxer pinned between back seat and a medium crate of ammo.

"Don't know! Help me loose kid!" Boxer fretted where he hung upside down.

"Sure you're not injured?"

"A little banged up, but nothing broken, torn or punctured." Boxer quit his struggling and pinned Coop with a scowl, "Are you gonna help me loose or not?"

"I'm coming… I'm coming…" Coop chuckled as he walked around the Humvee and opened the rear door just as Charlie continued to crawl out of the opposite front and got to his feet.

He bent down and studied how the scenery a little closer, then he reached out and grabbed a hold of the crate, "Ready? You better brace against the roof…"

"Still buckled in, thanks…" Box replied, but braced one hand against the roof anyway as Coop tugged the crate away from him. Then when he was free and had flipped around the right way and crawled out he looked the two Californians over, "Is everyone okay? Where's Dunc?"

"Everyone will live…" Coop shrugged, then he pointed in the general direction of Duncan "Dunc's over there with a broken leg or something. Think one of you could help me help him over here?"

"Yeah, I can." Charlie stepped forward, "If he's got a broken leg, I think it might be best if the two of us helping him are of similar height kid… Which reminds me, you're too tall."

"Still sore about being an inch or two shorter than your kid brother?" Coop smirked and rolled his eyes at the same time.

"No, I'm not sore about it…" Charlie scoffed, "But you're too tall… There's a line there, right at two meters… You're just a freak if you pass it…"

"Oh, come on _Lars_ … You're just jealous…" Cooper grinned.

"Sure _Erik…_ Sure." Charlie rolled his eyes, "Doesn't matter who's tallest, everyone knows I'm the coolest anyway…"

"In your dreams maybe…" Cooper shook his head, "But here in the real world…"

"Oh shut it…" Charlie chuckled as they took the last few steps to reach Duncan, "Hey man… How are you doing?"

"Really not looking forward to being moved…" Duncan gritted his teeth, then he looked at Coop, "Dude, you scared the living shit outta me when you knelt down… I didn't have visual on that bastard."

"Don't worry 'bout it, big bro did…" Cooper grinned and bumped his shoulder into Charlie's in the classic way of a younger brother showing affection for his older brother. "Thanks by the way… I was sure my life was over."

"Couldn't have any of that, now could we?" Charlie chuckled, "Sorry it took so long, inside of the Hummer was an obstacle course, and I'm not exactly the best shot with my left… Wanted to make sure I hit him."

"With your left…?" Duncan questioned as his eyes found Charlie's swelling and bruising right wrist, "Oh, that looks broken…"

Charlie nodded, "Feels that way too. Think I lost a fight to the steering wheel when we got hit. Pretty sure it was that rapid jerk of it that did this…" Then he stepped over to Dunc's lower half, "Mind if I take a look at your leg?"

"Mind if we get me over to Box and what's left of the Humvee first? I don't think I'll be up for that short little hike after I see what's hidden under this fabric…"

Charlie frowned and looked at Dunc, "It really hurts a lot, doesn't it?"

Dunc nodded hesitantly, he didn't want to admit that it hurt as bad as it did, but it would be all too clear once they started moving him, so why bother with a lie?

"I know it's broken, let's put it like that…" Duncan sighed.

"I'm so sorry…" Cooper grimaced, "I'm so-so sorry Dunc…"

"Hey, you already apologized, we're good." Dunc winked, "But I'm gonna need your help to get over there…"

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

After they got him up, he was given the option between using their shoulders as crutches or going for a piggyback ride. Needless to say he tried the shoulders as crutches option first, before it proved itself too painful after the fourth skip.

Then it was over to plan B and the humiliating piggyback ride.

"We're not mentioning this again… Ever." He growled into his transporter's ear, as menacing as he possibly could while in the position he was in.

"Hey, could still hop between us, or I could carry you bridal-style… Just choose your option…" Cooper grinned, fining way too much humor in the arrangement and the thought of the possible third arrangement.

"Nope." Duncan shook his head, "Ain't gonna happen. And we don't ever talk about this again. Okay?"

"Sure…" Coop nodded, "I'll try not to bring it up. But I can't promise anything for my older brother…"

"Oh, I will bring it up…" Charlie grinned, "You bet your ass I'll bring it up!"

"Screw you…" Duncan rolled his eyes.

 **Okay, second chapter is done. Any thoughts? Well, you get the next one in about 24 hours, give or take a little.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, chapter number three! Let's see how this turned out for me… Okay…**

It was nice of the military to bring a bird to get them all back to base. Now, if that was because of Duncan's leg, or the whole team's banged-up state, or the Humvee's inability to drive another yard, well, that was up for speculations. Anyway, it made the trip a hell of a lot quicker.

Charlie sat with his back pressed against the back of the pilot's seat. As he studied the other men he tried manipulating his right hand, still hoping that he could write it off as not broken, but the pain that flared at every single little movement told him otherwise.

He looked over at the two actual seats in the back, where Duncan took up both. He had his injured leg stretched out on top of one of their backpacks, but looked like he was doing kinda alright now that he was resting and his leg was elevated.

Right in front of the seat Duncan sat on, Charlie's own kid brother had taken a seat. Contorting his 6 foot 7 frame into a space-saving ball. He had his neck craned and was talking with Duncan, and even though Charlie couldn't make out what he was saying, he was pretty sure it was an endless string of apologies. At least if he knew his brother well enough, as he thought he did.

He then looked to his left, catching Boxer looking back at him from where he mirrored his sitting arrangement.

"You good?" he tried to ask loud enough to be heard over the sound of the engine and rotors, but ended up figuring that Box would just have to read his lips anyway. Which he obviously managed. Because the Texan nodded and held one thumb up.

"Great!" he nodded back, before he turned to watch the two youngest team members.

He almost jumped when a strong hand slapped against his shoulder, and looked over at the owner of said hand.

Boxer was pointing back at him and making a deal out of saying the word 'You?' in an over-exaggerated way.

He held up his hand, showing the angry-looking wrist. "Think it's broken, but I'm fine!"

He knew all of his voice would get lost in the noise, but by the look on Boxer's face, his message came across anyway.

'Looks bad!' he read on Boxer's lips.

He shrugged back, "Had worse…"

The way the Texan rolled his eyes in return cracked him up. He was pretty sure he would have gotten a lecture if they hadn't been muted by the helicopter, but right now all Boxer could do to show his annoyance was to roll his eyes.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

The trip to the doctor hadn't taken much time for him. A quick set of X-rays and the application of one fiberglass cast later, he was all ready to head back to their little hut to get what he considered well-deserved rest.

Boxer had flopped down on his bunk, right between his and Jack's.

"Now, how bad did the good doctor say it was?" the other man asked, turning his head in Charlie's direction.

"Not bad…" Charlie shrugged, holding up the cast to study it, broke both bones right above the wrist, but I don't need to fix it or anything… He had to reduce it though… That's never fun. But a couple of weeks of boring paper-shuffling and I'll be back out there…"

"A couple like…" Boxer started with dread in his voice.

"Ah, two-three weeks. I can punch with my left, no problem if I get into some hand to hand, and in a couple of weeks, pulling a trigger won't be any problem either…"

"Have you considered that being on paper-duty might be an effort to give that hand of yours some needed rest to heal properly?" Boxer sighed, "You said you broke both bones? Right? That's probably not stabile enough to be on missions in two or three short weeks…"

"Hey, better that than that I get bored around here all alone…" Charlie flashed a grin, "Just imagine all the things I could do…"

"I'd rather not…" Boxer frowned, "I've been a witness to stuff you think might be fun to test out for years now… I don't need to imagine anything…"

"Come on Box… Live a little. Have some fun…"

"You know there's a difference between living a little, and having some fun, and the stuff you do… Right?" Boxer chuckled in spite of himself. "Hanging after a Jeep going 40, on a lunch tray… That's not fun, that's just reckless… And a recipe for road rash."

"Yeah… Well… Not one of my brightest ideas…" Charlie admitted, "But it was fun for a little while…"

"Let's just all be glad you and Jack didn't know each other growing up… Or we would all be dead by now." Box chuckled.

"Yeah, that'd be a shame…" Charlie chuckled as the door to their sleeping quarters got opened and Jack and Pete entered.

"Heard you guys had a situation along the way…" Jack said as he sat down on the crate they had for a table, "How are you guys doing?"

"Not bad…" Charlie shrugged, "Generally a little banged up, and have to wear this little thing that'll turn itchy way too fast for a few weeks." He said holding up his cast. "I think Dunc got it worst."

"Jeez…" Jack frowned, "Where are they anyway? Duncan and your copy…"

"My guess is Dunc is still with the doctor, and little bro has refused to leave him alone there…" Charlie shrugged.

"Yeah, that could sound like him…" Jack nodded and looked back at the door as if wondering if he should wait there or head over to where Duncan was getting treated. "What happened to Dunc anyway?"

"Broke his leg, we think…" Box informed, "We were all done before he got his X-rays back. And he said he didn't need us there, so…"

Jack nodded, "Was it obviously broken?"

Charlie shrugged, "Either that, or he had some weird swelling in two places… Could actually just be swelling, come to think about it, but he was in a lot of pain…"

"But there weren't anything poking out if that's what you're asking…" Boxer added.

Jack nodded, "Okay, at least that's good… Right?"

Pete nodded where he stood.

"Man, he's not gonna have any fun the next week or so…" Charlie frowned as he sat back up, "First of all, this country is way too hot for casts. Second, if he broke his leg, which I'm like 110 percent sure he did, he'll probably end up with a cast that goes up to mid-thigh or something like that… And that will just make the cast vs temperature thing worse."

"You thinking he might end up with a big cast…" Pete crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head a little.

Charlie nodded, "Well, his ankle was swelled the hell up, and then he had this big bump right where they usually end short leg casts… So, yeah. Pretty sure that it's going to be a long one…"

"Man, that sucks…" Pete frowned, "He's not going to like it."

"Nope…" Charlie nodded.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

"How does that feel?"

Duncan shrugged as he looked down at the massive cast that trapped his left leg. The few times he had ever had a cast before swam into his mind like dreaded memories.

"Good."

"It's not too tight or anything?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

"Okay, now remember… If it starts feeling tight or anything, you come straight here so we can do something about it."

Duncan nodded a little.

"Okay, you're free to go rest in your own bunk now, just remember to keep that leg up whenever you can, and no long walks the first week or two, alright? From what I gather you're lucky to be alive. And that goes for all of you that were in the same car."

Dunc nodded. He hadn't quite thought about it yet, but he guessed he could consider himself lucky, that crash should probably have done a lot more damage to everyone of them than it had. And 'long walks' wasn't exactly what he had in mind at the moment, and he doubted it would be until his leg stopped hurting this much. The only upside he could see was that the doctor had decided that he wasn't up for sitting at the office just to shuffle papers either for the next 14 days. That actually felt a little bit like a free pass.

"Should I go find a wheelchair for you?" Cooper offered off to his right.

"Nah, I won't have any problems hopping back home on crutches…"

He didn't miss that Coop looked up at the doctor for confirmation of his claim, but he was too drained to care about it. All he wanted to do was to get back to his semi-comfortable bunk and do just what the doctor had told him to do. Prop his leg up on something and relax.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

"Dude, I'm so sorry about this…" Cooper said walking slowly next to him, carrying both of their stuff.

"You've already apologized about seventy times already, and it wasn't your fault." Duncan shot back, a little short of breath.

"I still feel bad about it…" Coop frowned, glancing down at Dunc's cast-covered leg, "I feel really bad about it…"

"Well. Don't." Duncan stopped and centered his weight over his good leg a little better, "I didn't have any chance of steering while I was tossed through the air, I honestly don't think you had either… So… Not your fault, at all."

Coop rubbed his neck and shook his head, "No, I guess I wasn't in control…"

"Exactly!" Duncan nodded, and slowly continued to hobble towards their hut, "So you don't get to feel bad about it."

"I'm sorry, have we met?" Coop chuckled without humor, "If someone I care about, especially one of my best friends, gets hurt because of me, I'm gonna worry about it, and I'm gonna feel bad about it."

Duncan chuckled, "Yeah… That's right… Almost forgot that…"

Cooper nodded, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I am…" Duncan nodded, "Or, at least I will be… Just give me a couple of weeks of no duty and I'll be right back to my old self."

Coop hummed a questioning noise, but let it go.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

The door opened again, and they all watched Duncan hobble over the doorsill. Soon followed by Cooper carrying a double set of gear.

"Looks like you were right, Charlie… Mid-thigh…" Boxer nodded as he watched Pete get up to prepare Dunc's bunk for him a little better.

"Hey, you wanna sit or lay down?" Pete asked gesturing to the bunk with one hand as he held a stuffed duffle in the other.

Dunc paused in his tracks a little bit and studied the bed, "Lay… Chances are I'm gonna catch some Z's pretty soon either way…"

Pete nodded and dropped the duffle bag at the foot-end of Dunc's bed, and fluffed his pillow a little for him. Then he pointed back to the duffle bag as he turned to face Dunc, "You think that's enough to have your leg up on? We could stuff a few more bags…"

"Nah…" Duncan shook his head, "Laying down, that looks just about perfect… Thanks."

Pete nodded, and glued his eyes to the cast after Duncan had sat down on his bed and got himself into position. "So, what did the doctor say? What kinds of fractures, how many and how long are you out for?"

"Eight weeks of cast, didn't really pay attention to the rest…" Dunc shrugged as he stretched out.

"I did…" Coop shot in, "Three in total. Two non displaced, one displaced but still closed…"

"Aw, that sounds painful…" Pete grossed a little.

"I can testify to that." Dunc nodded and let out a content little sigh as he sank down into his pillow, "The part where they set it was worst. Right after they let go of it… When they didn't pull on it anymore, it was like breaking it all over again."

"Never had a bone set before?" Charlie asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Nope, this was the first time…"

Charlie grinned, "Well, congratulations and welcome to the big boy's club…"

Duncan offered a tired grin, "Honestly, this one club… I could do without being a part of it…"

"Yeah, the entry ticket sucks…" Coop nodded, "You need anything? Water, coffee? Anything?"

"No, all good." Duncan answered with a yawn, "But please don't wake me up if I fall asleep, I'm ready for some serious Z's…"

"Alright…" Jack nodded, "If, when, you fall asleep, the rest of us can head on over to one of the other teams, make sure you get some quiet…"

"Oh, don't worry about that… I'm used to the bunch of you snoring all around me… A little noise don't bother me…" Dunc chuckled.

"Yeah, but we don't want to disturb you…" Charlie shrugged, "Besides, I've got a thing I need to discuss with Jay and his men…"

"You're planning on playing poker? Without us?" Coop chuckled teasingly.

"Hey, it's boring to win over y'all all the time…" Charlie winked, "I mean… Gotta have some fresh competition…"

"Aw, he's just sore 'cause he lost against Box last time…" Jack drawled, "Look at 'im, running over to other teams who are lesser skilled players in hope of winning some…"

"You shut your gap Wyatt…" Charlie tried acting menacing as he pointed a finger at Jack, but his lips betrayed him with a smile, "I win just as much as you do, and you know it."

Jack chuckled and looked over at Coop, "Hey kid! You happen to know if Norway over here banged his head pretty hard too? Or was it just the paddle he calls an arm that took it?"

"No… He haven't mentioned anything."

"Exactly…" Charlie nodded, "Beside, it's not me who obviously have some sort of everything-magnet inside my skull… It's little bro over there that tends to bump his head into all sorts of stuff…"

"That's only because you're not tall enough to bump into the top sill of doors…" Cooper frowned back, before adding "and it's not that often."

"It's way more often than it should be for someone who's been tall enough to do so for more than six years…" Charlie countered, tossing a pillow at him.

"You're just jealous, cause you're the shorter one…" Coop grinned, "Admit it…"

"No, I stand by my two meter rule…" Charlie flashed his grin, "You're a freak…"

"Says the guy built like a tank?" Boxer chuckled, earning himself a crumpled up shirt tossed his way.

"At least I don't look like I earned your last name…"

"Why? Cause you lost all the matches?" Boxer shot back with a grin, while his left hand subconsciously went up to palpate the area where his nose took a slight unexpected turn after being broken by a pool ball in a bar years earlier.

"Hey guys…" Duncan's voice broke through the noise, "I think I've changed my mind… Y'all are loud!"

"Oh, you want us to…" Jack pointed towards the door.

"Please." Dunc nodded, "At least until I fall asleep…"

"You heard him guys…" Jack nodded, "Everybody out."

"Sure you don't want me to stay? In case you wake up and need something?" Coop offered as he picked up a shirt he could throw over his shoulders if they stayed out until the temperatures cooled enough to need it. Or simply to protect himself against sunburn if sunscreen wasn't enough.

"Nah… You don't have to…" Dunc shook his head as he wiggled into a better position, "Go play volleyball or something, have some fun."

Coop nodded, "Okay. I'll stop by a couple of times just in case, alright?"

"Sure…" Dunc nodded, "But you know I ain't helpless, right?"

"Yeah of course…"

"Good." Dunc smiled and closed his eyes for a little while, "Look, I'm alright here, so just… Go have fun with someone. I won't be any sort of company anyway."

 **Okay… That's it for that chapter, you're getting the next one tomorrow.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay… Here we go again… Hope you're having a good time reading this…**

 _'Having fun wasn't exactly as fun when you knew one of your best friends was in pain. That was for sure.'_ Coop thought as he prepared to pick the next guy to go on his team for the volleyball match they had managed to piece together.

"Randy." He added a 'come here' gesture, and Randy did just that, falling in beside Coop and Boxer.

Jack picked a guy named Diego, who placed himself next to Pete.

"Hey… Pick Jess." Box prompted with an elbow to Coop's side, "She's pretty good…"

"We both know Adam is better…" Coop countered, but waited with picking his next player until Box had the chance to explain himself.

"Well, Jess is better looking…" Box shrugged, "And it's bad manners to pick the only girl dead-last."

Faking a cough to cover the fact that a fit of laughter caught him off guard, Coop nodded. "Okay, we would have just as much chance of looking at her on the other side of the net, but you make a good point…"

Box offered up a playful shrug.

"Okay, Jess… Will you do me the honor of playing for my team?" he smiled, as he gestured for her to join them.

"Sure." she nodded and pretty much skipped over to the three other players.

"Okay, Adam, that means you're with us!" Jack called out and waved him over.

Playing was a distraction, but it wasn't honest fun. At least not for him. But, it worked as a distraction if nothing else.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

"Alright, that's a tie. Tied at 7 everybody!" Charlie called out from where he was standing by the net. The poker game wasn't before later, and even though the others wouldn't let him play and he also realized he wasn't up for it, he could always enjoy watching a decent game. Then he continued, "And it's Pete's serve!"

He held an arm out to gesture to Jack's team and Pete who was ready to serve.

"What do you guys think? A good ol' fashioned sun-serve?" Pete teased as he winked to Jack and the other players on his team. "Poor fellas ain't going to see the ball before it's too late…"

"You choose." Jack grinned back, wiping sweat away with his forearm, "We're going to leave them in the dust either way…"

"Sir, yes sir…" Pete grinned back as he rolled the ball in his hands a couple of times before he was satisfied and ready to serve. "Everyone ready?"

No objections came, and the volleyball was sent sky-high. The players on Jack's team could see it arch beautifully, before it headed for a spot right on the other side of the net, right beside Cooper, unfortunately.

Cooper managed to bump into the ball and send it to Boxer, who returned it to him so that he could deliver a perfect smash right across the net.

Jack caught it and passed it to Adam, Adam sent it to Pete. Cooper blocked the return, but Diego made sure it didn't hit the ground.

Charlie watched as the ball flew back and forth over the net, both teams played like their lives depended on winning. He loved it when you could get so incredibly caught up in a game, it made it all the more fun, even to watch.

He winced in sympathy as his little brother tossed himself after the ball, just to end up a few inches short of where the ball landed, probably tearing up the scrapes along his elbows in the process. That would explain the kid's expression and sharp gasp anyway.

"Sorry kid…" he chuckled as his younger, yet taller brother pushed himself off the ground and dusted himself off with a sour expression. "Better luck next time…"

The glare that was directed towards him was definitely worth it.

"Okay, it's 8-7, Pete has the ball!" he grinned as Coop picked up the ball and threw it over the net a little more forcefully than needed.

His smile quickly disappeared when he saw his little brother wincing and reaching for his shoulder for a quick second.

"Hey!" he called out, eyes locked on the tight expression Coop had, "You good there?"

"Yeah. Yep…" Cooper tried to convince him as he forced himself to straighten back up, "Just a twinge, nothing more…"

The answer came a little quick for Charlie's liking, so he signaled for Pete to hold on to the ball as he walked over to his younger brother.

"You sure? Cause I've seen you lie about stuff like this for years man…"

"Promise, nothing more than a twinge." Coop held up his right hand like he was making a pledge, "It's not even bruised…"

"Dude, all of you are bruised…" Charlie rolled his eyes, "Shoulder included…"

"It's not bad…"

"Okay, come to think of it… You've been playing awfully right-handed, haven't you?"

Coop simply shook his head.

"Come on…"

"No…" Coop shook his head again, "It's totally fine."

"Okay, if it's so fine then… Stretch your arms as far above your head as you can…"

Seeing his brother trying to find a good way to get out of doing just that was almost laughable, but it also told him that his little brother probably should get his shoulder checked out if he hadn't already. And that he probably shouldn't be playing volleyball anyway.

With a surrendering sigh, Coop let his head drop as he raised his arms.

"That's not straight up… That's barely up…" Charlie sighed, folding his arms as he looked at his younger brother. "What did you do to it?"

Coop let his arms drop back down again, and looked away.

"Hey. Look at me."

Coop didn't.

"Look at me, and tell me what happened to your shoulder."

Coop still didn't make a move to meet his eyes, so he reached out with his good hand and forced him to look his way.

"What happened to it? Did you land wrong? Hit it on something in the Humvee? What happened?"

With a shaky breath Coop shrugged his right shoulder, "Broke Dunc's leg…"

Charlie blinked a couple of times as he tried to figure out just what had happened and how, before he looked at Coop's shoulder. "So, you let the doctor take a look at it then? Since you managed to BREAK his leg in three places…"

Coop swallowed before he nodded, "Yeah."

"Really? What did he say?"

"Nothing."

"No hints that you should take it easy for a while? No orders to ice it?" Charlie narrowed his eyes, "Nothing?"

Cooper's eyes shied away again.

"Cooper Erik Lea…" Charlie sighed, "Did the doctor, or did he not, take X-rays and a function test of that shoulder of yours?"

Coop's hand darted up to rub at his neck, "He did not…"

"Well, then he didn't take a look at your shoulder dumbass!"

"He did though…"

"Yeah? How?"

"Looked at the missing skin, figured it wasn't that bad…" Coop shrugged again, "Got the option if I wanted to walk out of there looking like a kid that had found his mom's pads or not… Figured I would be just as fine without seven or eight large-ass bandages all over…"

"You know… Sometimes I wanna beat some sense into your stupid head so damn bad…" Charlie growled, his left hand running up to press against his forehead. "That's it, your team is down a man, and you're going to the doctor again. I'll follow you."

"But…"

"Nah-uh…" Charlie shook his head, "I promised Mamma that I'd look after you when you broke the news that you made this team. You know she'd have me killed if she found out I didn't make good on that promise."

Cooper chuckled a little, "She wouldn't kill you…"

"I'd wish I was dead, anyway… Our Mamma can be one scary mom…"

Coop shrugged, the nodded. "Yeah. That's right."

 **Okay… This one was kind of a short chapter in this story, I know, but I needed a little break before the next chapter. In other words, my attempts at making a smooth transition failed, so I decided to skip ahead a couple of hours.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay so here we go again. Hope I'm not boring you…**

"See! You freaking broke your shoulder!" Charlie growled as they walked back to where the other guys were.

"No…" Coop shook his head, "That's not what he said… He said there was a possible break. There's a difference."

"You're impossible…"

"Learned from the best, alright." Coop scowled over at Charlie, "If you're gonna blame someone, look in the mirror."

"Okay, yeah… I see why I deserved that one." Charlie nodded, "But seriously… You've gotta start taking better care of yourself. Not just everyone around you."

Coop kicked a pebble that laid in the dirt before him.

"Kid, I mean it…" Charlie stopped and grabbed on to Coop's good arm to stop him, "You're young now, but… If you keep ignoring stupid stuff like this, you're going to be in a lot of pain when you get older…"

"Take it from the master?" Cooper heard the venom in his own voice and sighed, "Sorry…"

"Hey… Pretty much all is fair when it comes to brothers, right?" Charlie chuckled.

Coop chuckled too, "Look, I know you're just trying to help… But we've never been good at being micro-managed. Either of us…"

"That's true…" Charlie chuckled, "Nobody in our family can forget when mamma and uncle Tore tried teaching you skiing…"

"Why is it always that story that gets brought up…" Cooper rolled his eyes, "I was four…"

"Because EVERYONE started discussing if it was the Lea temperament or the Skau temperament you had inherited…" Charlie chuckled, "My guess is both…"

"You're no better, you know that…"

"Oh, I know…" Charlie chuckled before falling serious again, "Sure you don't want to wear the sling?"

"Possible fracture…" Cooper sighed, "He didn't say straight out that there was one, and anyway it was so small and so stabile that it wasn't entirely necessary with the sling. It was just if I felt like it would be more comfortable…"

"Not exactly what I heard him say… Buddy…" Charlie frowned, "Sure you listened to him at all?"

"Look, my shoulder's good enough. I'll behave a few weeks, and then it's all good…"

"No volleyball, no football, no soccer, no fighting…" Charlie counted off, "No basketball… No contact sports of any kind, alright?"

"Same goes for you."

"Of course…" Charlie nodded, "No heavy lifting with that arm either…"

Cooper sighed, but nodded. "Okay. Same for you."

"Deal." Charlie nodded, "I'm in no condition to lift anything with this paw yet anyway…" He looked over and delivered a playful wink, "Don't tell anyone, alright?"

"Sure…" Cooper rolled his eyes, "It's not like everyone's gonna know anyway…"

"Okay, the cast might be a bit of a give-away, I'll admit that."

"Yeah, it is…" Coop nodded.

They walked a couple of more yards, before Charlie turned to Coop again, "Come on… Please just wear the sling…"

"Nah, I don't need it… The doct-"

"The doctor actually said you _should_ wear it." Charlie sighed, "And he said you probably had a fracture, but that the X-ray machine was a little whack and didn't give good enough pictures of so thin bones."

Coop just shrugged his best shoulder.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure that if you let me touch your shoulder I could tell you exactly where the break is!"

"But you're not gonna…"

"I might…" Charlie threatened.

"Nah…" Cooper shook his head, "You're ticklish… If you touch my shoulder I'm gonna tickle you…"

"So are you…"

"Yeah, but neither of my hands are in a cast right now, so I've got a big advantage there…"

"You've got a bad shoulder. That's no better…" Charlie shrugged.

"Okay… You're right…"

"Say that again…?"

"Go screw yourself…" Coop answered with a roll of his eyes.

Another few yards later, Charlie looked back up at Cooper. "You know… That you won't let me touch your shoulder is probably a sign that you should do as the doctor said, and have your arm in that sling you just shoved down in your pocket."

"Look, if my shoulder starts hurting any worse, I'll do it… Okay? Happy now?"

"I'd prefer it if my pain in the ass little brother just followed the doctor's orders straight away, okay…"

"Look, I'll be careful. Okay?"

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Charlie shook his head again before he under his breath muttered, "Impossible."

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

As they got back to the others, Charlie cleared his voice and pretended to be an announcer, "Everybody, listen up! Coop's been placed on Injured reserve for a few weeks. Don't let him play anything, alright?"

"You've got it!" Jack nodded, "What's up with him?"

"Broke his freaking clavicle…"

"Not guaranteed…" Coop butted in.

"The machine isn't fine-tuned enough to get a clear picture of his clavicle with all that mass around it…" Charlie shrugged, "They managed to get an okay picture of my hand, but there's a little less meat and other structures messing up pictures there…"

"Hardly…" Pete chuckled, "You've seen the size of those meat clubs you carry around and call hands, right?"

"Well, compared to Coop's shoulder it's a bit thinner, okay?" Charlie chuckled as he shook his head. "Compared to your hands, okay… I get it…"

"My hands are normal, while the two of you… Fell into some sort of mystic formula when you were babies, I'm sure of it!" Pete pointed to the two Californians' hands.

"Should we take him?" Coop asked looking over at Charlie for just a short second.

"I know I said no contact sport, and no fighting…" Charlie shrugged and paused for a couple of seconds, "But look at him… He's so tiny…"

"Yeah…" Coop chuckled, as he changed his footing, making it easier for him to start running in case they decided on that.

"Could hardly do much damage at all, could he…?"

"Probably not…" Coop chuckled as a mischievous look bled onto his features, "Wanna check?"

"Could be fun…" Charlie chuckled.

"You guys aren't actually…" Pete frowned, his body language revealed to the others that if either Californian moved as much as a fraction, he would bounce.

"Could be really fun…" Coop agreed, knowing exactly what his big brother's plan was without discussing it.

"I say we do it… How about you? You up for it?"

"Always." Cooper nodded.

Charlie flashed a grin, "GO!"

And both blond Californians pounced, causing the much smaller New Yorker to flee.

Both Charlie and Cooper doubled over with laughter as they stood and watched Pete slow down 25 yards away. Charlie had his left hand pressed against his left knee for support, while his right arm loosely mimicked the left without bearing any weight. Cooper had ended up hunched back on his heels with his right hand up supporting his left shoulder as he switched between laughing and cussing.

"You guys are IDIOTS, you know that!" Pete growled as he walked back towards the laughing group. "Idiots."

"Sure… Wuss." Charlie grinned as he straightened back up, "I'm honestly surprised you didn't shriek like a little girl."

Pete scowled over at him, "Well, imagine this if you can… You're a highly trained operative. You're confident in your abilities compared to other, normal, mortal souls. But then you meet this monster of a man, who might as well be twice your size. Or at least close to it. And he's also a highly trained operative…"

"Hard to imagine…" Charlie chuckled.

"For you, yeah! I imagine!" Pete practically growled as he gave Charlie a push, "And then this mountain of a man turns out to have a younger brother, who is a carbon copy of him. And he's also a highly trained operative, albeit a bit younger. But you just know he's grown up with play-fighting with the first mountain."

Cooper chuckled.

"Now, if you're a regular sized guy, and have some concern for your own health… You're going to opt for running away instead of meeting those two in a fight. No matter if it's a real fight or one that starts out just for fun. Okay?" Pete sighed with irritation, "There's no way I am going to stand still while the two of you jump after me, I'm a foot shorter than you for crying out loud."

"Come on… They're both hurt…" Jack teased.

"Yeah, and I've seen the older one pop his elbow back into place and less than five minutes later break another guy's elbow over his knee like it was nothing, and the younger one has been playing volleyball for 35 minutes, acting like he was all fine." Pete stopped momentarily and took in Coop's position and the way he was supporting his shoulder now, "If you're in pain, I have no sympathy to give, and I also think you kinda deserve it…"

Cooper laughed a bit more, before he pulled a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah… About that… I think the second hour with the doctor got my shoulder to stiffen up a lot…"

Concern flashed across Pete's face for a split second, before he gathered himself again, "You should be wearing a sling, even if the doctor was just concerned about a break…"

"I tried telling him that…" Charlie sighed as he hooked an arm under Coop's good shoulder and forced him upward, "He's stubborn. But he'll come to his senses in his own damn time…"

"When it starts hurting enough?" Boxer raised his eyebrows.

"Yep, that's usually when he realizes that tips like, 'wear your damn sling' is actually a bit helpful." Charlie sighed.

"Hey, only thing that sling is gonna do is help your arm heal faster, so you can get back in the field faster…" Jack offered, "I know slings suck, but… Makes walking around with a busted shoulder a lot less painful…"

"He should know…" Boxer rolled his eyes, "Left shoulder of his has a tendency to say sayonara whenever it pleases it…"

"It does not." Jack frowned.

"It does…" Boxer rolled his eyes, "Ever since what? Fifth grade?"

Jack folded and unfolded his arms before he finally nodded, "Okay, alright… So it dislocates from time to time… Whatever… But kid, wearing that sling is actually a pretty good idea…"

"If it's worse by tomorrow, I'll consider it, okay?"

"Super." Jack nodded, pretty confident it would be worse by the next day.

They had barely finished up their little impromptu huddle when Diego raised his voice over at the volleyball net, catching their attention. "Yo! Guys! We're going to toss a bit of meat on the grill, you wanna come? Got plenty of it, even for the two that must've derived from Goliath."

Charlie chuckled, "Well, that one was actually new…"

Coop nodded, "Yup."

"Hey, thanks!" Jack grinned, "That'd be super! We've got another man too, but he's… He might not be up for it anyway…"

"Well, if he is, he's invited too." Diego shrugged, "We've got room for everybody… It's a pretty big FOB, right?"

"Sure." Jack agreed.

"I'm gonna go check on Dunc…" Coop informed, trying to mask a slight grimace, "See if he's hungry or not."

The others nodded.

"You know, if he's hungry, but not up for hobbling over and staying there, one of us could always bring something back for him…" Box suggested, "Can't imagine it would be great for him to sit in a folding chair or something for hours anyway…"

"What's up with your last teammate?"

"He broke his leg earlier today…" Charlie informed, "Seemed like it hurt pretty bad."

"Oh… Ow." Diego frowned, "Well, if he makes it over, I'm pretty sure we could arrange a good spot for him anyway…"

"If he's awake and hungry, I'll be sure to inform him about that option." Coop nodded.

"Great. Well, we're right next to where Lieutenant Casey usually parks, y'all know where that is, right?"

"Yeah, we know…" Boxer said while the others nodded.

"Good." Diego nodded.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

Coop headed back to their sleeping quarters alone, while the rest of the up-and-about team headed straight to where Diego and his team stayed.

As he walked back, he contemplated the pro's and con's about giving in and wearing the sling. On the positive side, it would give his shoulder some rest, which it was starting to demand anyway. On the negative side, it would confirm that he wasn't alright, and that he was hurt.

He'd try to hold off until tomorrow, see if it by any chance felt a little better then. Not that he had any great hopes it would. He had not been a stranger to injuries as a kid, or teen. Or now, obviously.

 **Okay. So… Another chapter down.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, next chapter. Hope I'm not boring ya…**

Cooper stopped just inside the door and listened, he quickly realized that Duncan didn't realize he had walked into the room.

"…holdin' weight? Then you haven't met the apes." Coop didn't recognize the song, rap, Duncan was jamming along to straight away. He just knew he had heard it before.

He saw the headphones and crept over to his own bunk undetected.

"Stop. Drop. Shut 'em down. Open up shop! Oh. No…"

 _'That's how Ruff Ryders roll…'_ Cooper hummed when he realized which rap it was. He sat, watched and listened to Duncan repeating the words of the rap for a little while before he decided it was time to give the guy a hint that he had returned.

He decided that tossing a pillow over at him would be an okay way to do just that. And he almost laughed when he saw the surprised look on Dunc's face when his eyes sprang open.

"So… You're awake?" Coop asked cautiously.

Dunc nodded, "Yeah, woke up about 20 minutes ago, bored."

Coop nodded.

"So I found my Mp3 and…" Dunc shrugged, "Listened to it…"

"Cool." Coop nodded, "I knew you could sing, but I didn't know you could rap too…"

Duncan shrugged, "A little, if it's not too fast…"

Coop nodded, "So… How's the leg?"

Dunc shrugged, "Hurts a little, why?"

"One of the other teams are having a BBQ or something, they invited us. You up for it?"

Dunc frowned and looked down at his leg.

"They said they could arrange a seat for you so you could sit comfortably and have your leg up…" Coop shrugged, and his breath caught in his chest.

"Whoa… What's up with you?" Duncan asked alarmed as he caught on to the little slip Coop had.

"Nothing much…" Coop bit down hard, "Turns out I might have messed up my shoulder a bit after all…"

"Yeah, you said so right after the crash…" Duncan nodded, "You know what's up with it? Did you go back for a second round with the doctor?"

"Charlie made me…" Coop nodded as he brought his hand up to gently feel along his clavicle himself, "Probably got a little crack in it."

"What? Your collarbone?"

Coop nodded with defeat.

"Ow man…" Dunc frowned, "Must be stiffening up and getting worse to walk around with by now, right?"

"It's not all bad…"

Dunc rolled his eyes, "Okay, and that sling that is trying to crawl out of your side pocket is just for fashion?"

Coop rolled his eyes a little, "It's not that bad…"

"Sure…" Duncan mimicked Coop as he also rolled his eyes, "You want me to come to that BBQ?"

"If you're up for it…" Coop nodded, "but if your leg hurts too much, I could bring back some food for you if you're hungry…"

"Nah…" Duncan shook his head as he started to sit up straighter, "We can make a deal, if you put that sling on, I'll tag along."

Coop scoffed, "I see you're trying to be a hard negotiator…"

Duncan nodded, "So, what's it gonna be?"

With a final sigh, Cooper reached into his pocket and retrieved the sling before he shook it out and placed it in his lap.

"Wait, you actually carried me with a broken shoulder?" Duncan asked.

Coop bared his teeth, but didn't answer.

"Look, I'm thankful and all, but boy… You're stupid!" Duncan chuckled.

"Well, it only felt a little banged up back then…" Coop shrugged, "Felt like a bad bruise in the making, now if feels like what it is…"

Duncan nodded, "You probably was a little high on adrenaline or something, just surprised to still be alive after the crash and the kneeling in front of a gun part…"

Letting out a flat chuckle, Coop nodded. "Yeah. Guess that's got something to do with it."

Dunc nodded as he watched Coop trying to wrestle into the sling without causing himself too much pain.

"Whenever you figure out that your attempts are counterproductive, I can help you, you know…"

A couple of seconds later Cooper let go of the sling and dropped his head in defeat, "Okay… If you don't mind…"

"I think the trick to getting your giant arm into that sling without forcing you to turn into a contortionist, is to unbuckle the sling and just thread it all over again."

Cooper nodded. "Probably."

"They really should make these things in quadruple XL, or whatever your size is."

"Ha-ha. Funny." Cooper rolled his eyes, "I'm not THAT big."

"You're massive either way…" Duncan shook his head as he took the sling from Coop's extended hand and started loosening the strap that would go over the good shoulder.

"Thank you by the way…"

"No problem… As long as you come down to my level so I can help you get into this…"

"Yeah. Of course…"

Duncan nodded with a satisfied grin as the strap finally came loose, "Alright, ready?"

Cooper nodded and knelt down on his knees beside Duncan's bunk.

A couple of minutes later Cooper had his left arm in the sling and Duncan sat back, "How does it feel now?"

"Okay." Coop nodded, "Weight of my arm doesn't pull it anymore, that's kinda nice…"

"Good." Dunc nodded, "Is it the right height then?"

"Think so…"

"Okay, good." Dunc nodded again and started to scoot over so that he could lift his leg down off the duffle he used to keep his leg elevated, "Mind giving me a hand up?"

Coop said nothing, but held his hand out ready for Duncan to clasp on to.

"Thanks…" Duncan smiled, before he used Coop's arm for leverage to get up, letting out a pained growl in the process.

"You sure you're up for it? You're not in too much pain or anything?"

"Nah, I'm up for it." Duncan said as he bent at his waist to gather up his crutches, "Woke up because the painkillers from earlier obviously was wearing off, was about the right time for that to happen too… Took another one, it's starting to work. Not at the peak yet, but…"

"We could wait…"

Duncan shook his head, "I'm already up…"

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

"Look there, there they are!" Boxer grinned as he pointed to where Duncan and Coop rounded the corner.

"Damn, would you look at that…" Charlie mused, "He's actually wearing that sling the doctor gave him too…"

"I didn't expect that before tomorrow…" Jack admitted.

"Yeah, me neither." Charlie nodded, "I should really have a talk with Dunc and hear if he's got some magic trick we don't know about…"

"Sounds like a great idea…" Pete nodded, "I'd like to know all the tricks to get you crazy bunch to listen to me…"

"Just give up Pete…" Box drawled as he sat back in his chair, "That ain't gonna happen anyway."

"Being medic for you guys is…" Pete shook his head and ran a hand through his dark hair, "It's freaking impossible…"

"Hey… It was you who decided to become a medic…" Jack shrugged, "That's not our fault…"

"I decided to become a medic, to help people…" Pete sighed, "I was wrong in my assumption of people, namely you five, wanting help when they were hurt."

Charlie chuckled, "Hey, we do want your help getting patched up. But we're usually to gung-ho to realize we need it when you first try to close up our wounds."

"Yeah…" Jack shrugged, "Sorry 'bout that…"

"Yeah… By the way…" Pete scowled over at Jack, then at the two other older Delta's, "Next time boss needs stitches, I need you two to hold him down for me…"

"Hey, it wasn't the stitches…" Boxer chuckled, "If you'd just given him that needle and thread he could have closed that up on his own…"

"No I couldn't…" Jack shook his head, "Not there…"

"Okay, but without the shot, you wouldn't have clocked 'im, would ya?"

"Prolly not…" Jack admitted as his cheeks took on a red tint.

"What, that's why?" Pete scoffed, "He's afraid of shots? That's it?"

Jack looked up to heavens, not interested in answering the question.

"You have stitched him up before too… No problem, right?" Box asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah." Pete remembered, "Seriously? Afraid of shots? You?"

"Wyatt? Yeah…" Charlie chuckled, "He's been like that for a few years now…"

"Hey… Don't we have like… More fun topics to talk about?" Jack hoped.

"It is kinda fascinating how you suddenly became afraid of shots…" Charlie shrugged, "You didn't have any problems with it for the first few years I knew you…"

"Yeah, well…" Jack shrugged, "Let's just say I got one shot too many when the rest of you enjoyed the beaches of Bahamas that break."

"Oh man…" Box grinned, "You seriously should've been there…"

"Trust me…" Jack started, "If I had the chance to go back and refuse that one mission, I would. If someone else would have taken it, it would have been great."

"This is obviously before my time…" Pete shrugged.

"Yeah…" Charlie nodded, "He was voluntold to take an assignment for some letter mill. The rest of us were literally in Bahamas for a month during that time. And we had two months back home with our families too, while Jack was off doing whatever the assignment was. It's a few years ago, I think Coop was eleven or twelve or something. It was one of OUR first years in the unit."

"That's a long time ago…" Pete teased, earning himself a slap from Boxer. "Hey, just telling the truth…"

"Anyway… When we got back together again, boss was skittish all the freaking time." Charlie shrugged, "And then we had to get some shots, I think it was something as simple as a tetanus shot or something. He FREAKED."

Jack nodded, "Trust me, if you had been on that assignment, you would have too…"

"Probably…" Charlie agreed, "But it would have been a little easier to imagine why if you told us what had happened."

"Classified, and my brain don't like to touch that subject either." Jack shrugged and opened his canteen to take a sip of water.

"My theory is he got shot up with something very unpleasant…" Boxer shrugged.

"Guys. Next topic. Please." Jack shuddered, "Less syringes this time… I'll make it an order if I have to."

Charlie and Box chuckled.

"Seriously, you two are the worlds worst best friends, you know that?"

"Right back at you…" Charlie shook his head, "I'm just trying to get revenge for the latest scorpion."

"It didn't even have a stinger anymore…" Jack laughed.

"It was still a scorpion!" Charlie smacked his good hand against Jack's knee, "I sure as HELL didn't take the time to study it."

"There's nothing more rewarding than seeing someone as big and mean-looking as you shriek at the sight of a scorpion." Jack chuckled.

"Yeah, there is…" Charlie shook his head in objection to Jack's claim, "You vs. Needles."

"Go to hell…"

"One of my uncles live there…" Charlie shrugged, "Pretty nice actually. A tad bit cold and dark in the winter though…"

"Uncle Gunstein?" Coop asked as they made it close enough to pick up on the conversation.

"Yes."

"So… Your whole family isn't from hell?" Jack tried acting like this was new information, "I could have sworn…"

"No actually, most of our Norwegian relatives live in the southern part of Norway…" Coop chuckled, "Uncle Gunstein just moved up there with a girl way back in the 80s or something. And he stayed there. It's really awesome landscape there. Remember that time he took snowboarding? It was hell to climb up those mountains with snowshoes on and snowboard and other gear on your back, but the decent was awesome."

"I remember you causing a small avalanche. That was not awesome."

"Hey, we all made it down without a scratch. Didn't we?" Coop shrugged, cussing when he forgot the state of his left shoulder.

"Yeah, well. We got lucky, and I think you learned your lesson." Charlie shrugged, "I honestly didn't know that man could cuss…"

"He got mad…"

"He had every right to…" Charlie shrugged, "I mean, we had both told you not to enter that area."

"I was 17… What did you expect of me?"

"A little self-preservation?" Charlie shrugged, "Maybe the ability to take no for an answer…? Oh, and common sense, you usually have that before you're 17…"

"Okay, yeah…" Cooper nodded, "But it was a real nice line until that snowdrift broke off…"

"Well, if it had been mid-winter you wouldn't have had a chance there. Colder temps and a quick avalanche… Nope. Luckily it was almost summer and it was a slow and wet avalanche…"

"Yeah, it went kinda slow…"

"Was this in Hell?"

"Nah, a few of hours north of it…" Charlie corrected.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

While the others chatted about stuff, Duncan found the seat the other team had prepared for him. It was a beach chair, an actual beach chair and a cable spool with a pillow on for his leg, and even though the chair itself was pretty low, it looked like it would be one of the best combos they could have found for him.

"Hey, we've got a bunk we could drag out for ya too, if that would be better for ya…" a kinda short Mexican looking fella offered as Dunc gathered his crutches in his left, "I'm Diego by the way."

"Duncan… Nice to meet you." Duncan nodded and offered his hand for a proper greeting, "Thanks for the gesture by the way, this setup looks just about perfect, so I don't think dragging a bunk out here will be necessary."

Diego nodded, "Well, if you change your mind, it's easy for me and the boys to drag one out here…"

Duncan nodded, "So… Are your team new around here?"

"Oh no…" Diego shook his head, "I just haven't been with them for half of the tour. Had some other shit to attend to."

Duncan nodded as he bent down and placed the crutches beside the chair, preparing himself for sitting down.

"You need any help getting down there? The chair is awfully low, sorry…"

"Yeah…" Dunc shrugged, "Maybe a hand would be nice… Make sure I don't fall flat on my ass."

"Let's try to avoid that…" Diego nodded as he gripped Dunc's arm and helped him safely down, "There…"

"Thanks man…"

"No problem." Diego winked, "Need anything? An extra pillow? Blanket? Anything?"

Dunc shook his head, "No, looks like I'm all set for now."

"Okay." Diego nodded and looked around, "Mind if I sit down next to ya?"

"Of course not, it's your BBQ, right?"

Diego chuckled, "Yeah, I guess."

Dunc nodded and waited as Diego placed himself next to him.

They sat in silence for a minute or so, in the lack of stuff to chat about. And nobody really wanted to talk about the weather either. It was usually the same old same, 'way too freaking hot.' Everybody agreed anyway.

"So…" Diego started, testing his voice, "I see big guy is wearing his sling now… You the mastermind behind that?"

"Maybe. I said I would tag along if he used it." Duncan grinned, "Little did he know I would probably have hobbled over here anyway."

Diego laughed, "Well, sounds like you're the voice of reason between the two of you…"

"Meh…" Dunc shrugged, "I don't know about that. But I'm starting to learn how to act around him to make him do what he should, for his own health's sake…"

"Sounded like his older brother hadn't figured that out yet…"

"Oh, he has his tricks, I've seen them…" Dunc looked over at where the rest of his team was at the moment, "But they might be a little bit more older brother telling his baby brother what to do, or even a bit more military than my tactics."

"I bet." Diego chuckled as Coop decided to make his way over.

"Mind if I plant my ass here?"

"Go for it!" Diego nodded, gesturing to a nearby chair.

"Thanks." Cooper grinned as he sat down, "Really cool of you to invite our team over."

"Hey, one can get tired of the same 15 conversations over and over again, figured some fresh blood would be good." Diego grinned before he looked up towards the grill, "I better go check on Andy, make sure he's not cremating whatever's on the grill right now."

Coop and Duncan laughed at that.

"Not the best chef?" Duncan raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, he's alright. But he's a total air head, has the concentration skills of a goldfish." Diego chuckled, "I'll be right back."

 **Okay… When I wrote this I kinda wanted it to be the end. But I also realized that I ought to give you a little bit more proper end. So there's one more chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay. Last chapter. I'm actually completing something.  
(Oh, and this one is short…)**

 **Before the epilogue/last chapter, I feel like I should take the opportunity to thank all of you who have read and commented this story. Thanks for all the new favorites and follows too. I really appreciate it! THANKS A LOT!**

They sat around and enjoyed the company for hours. The night had fallen and the temperatures had dropped to a point where you had your shirt on to keep warm instead of keeping from getting sunburnt.

They enjoyed as good food as you could find on a Forward Operating Base in the middle of a war, and talked about just about every other topic than the ongoing war. Only thing missing from the BBQ's back home was your drunk cousin upside down in a lawn chair and the keg up by the porch. And the porch. –And a few other stuff.  
But it was nice. It was peaceful almost.

They had gotten to know Diego and the rest of his teammates better. And had established what could end up being solid friendships down the line.

And most of all, they had a good time.

MACGYVERxDELTASPECIAL

When his painkillers had worn off, it hadn't been hard for him to ask Pete for the favor of running over to their place on a 'medicine run', which had really made Dunc appreciate the kinds of guys he was teamed up with. They all were one of a kind, they all were his brothers.

From Jack's skilled leadership, often masked by goofy antics. To Boxer's laid back, calm and casual persona, and his way of dealing out small pearls of wisdom whenever he saw it fit.

Charlie's attempts at lightening the mood whenever possible, his will to take on all of your problems if he could and the way people just knew not to mess too much with people he held dear.

Pete, Pete was worth his weight in gold just for not losing his mind over the others. And it was nice to have a friend around that would always make sure you were okay, even if you had teased him for something five minutes earlier.

And Coop, he shared some of the traits with his older brother. Dunc would admit that. But what made Coop special to him was that they had started out at basic together, and somehow managed to end up in the same team now. Even though he had many 'brothers and sisters' from his time back in Chicago, who he had spent years with while growing up, he was pretty sure he knew Coop on a whole different level. There's something special that happens to a friendship when you're dragged through the mud together. Or when you literally fear for your lives together.

Yeah, he was lucky. Not just lucky to be alive, but lucky to have such a great family around him.

 **The end.**


End file.
